


Trust is Earned

by orphan_account



Category: Roswell New Mexico (TV 2019)
Genre: Gen, Hurt!Max, Hurt/Comfort, SICK!Max, Set sometime in the future, Sibling Love, Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-11
Updated: 2019-02-28
Packaged: 2019-10-26 12:28:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,770
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17745923
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: What happens when Max gets sick and is forced to depend on the only doctor who knows his secret?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is set sometime in the future, once the Rosa drama has been left behind that the characters are starting to form real friendships.
> 
> Also, I'd love to see Max and Kyle learn to trust each other in canon.

“You coming down with something, Evans?”

Max glanced up to see Sheriff Valenti, carefully straightening from the slumped position he’d been in at his desk, reading over a report from the previous shift. 

“Just a stomach ache.”

“Probably that stomach bug that’s been going around. Go home, Evans.”

“I can manage, Sheriff. I’m fine.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you sick Evans, but I still recognize it when I see it. Go home.”

Max sighed, slipping the report back into its folder, and running his hands through his hair. He’d woken up with this ache near his belly button, and it’d persisted all morning, despite the nail polish remover he’d slipped into his mug earlier. He’d never felt this way before, but if this is what sick felt like, he wasn’t enjoying it.

Back at his house, he slipped off his boots, made himself a quick lunch, and then drifted off to sleep on the couch. He hoped he’d feel better after a short nap.

He woke to the sound of his phone ringing and groaned, reaching for it. His stomach still hurt, though the pain had moved a little lower now.

“Lo?” he grumbled, grimacing as he repositioned himself on the couch.

“Max, what’s wrong?” Hearing her voice jogged his memory. He’d told Liz that he’d meet up with her at the Wild Pony around dinnertime. Something about wanting to tell him a funny story, and wanting to make sure Maria heard it too. 

Liz had been so upset when the secrets surrounding Rosa’s death had finally come to light - especially since Max hadn’t been telling her the truth. After the initial shock - and grief - she’d told him that she’d forgive him one day. And that maybe they could even work on getting to know each other for real now, a little at a time.

Max was cautiously pleased. Just having her around, in his life in some small way, was more than he’d dared to hope for a long time.

“Max?” 

He started at the sound of his name in the phone.

“Huh? Sorry, I uh… I don’t feel good.”

“Max…” Liz paused, sounding concerned, “I thought you didn’t get sick?”

“First time for everything maybe? I’m fine, it’s just my stomach. Sorry, but I don’t think I’m up to going to the Wild Pony tonight, Liz.”

“No, that’s fine. Take care of yourself.”

No sooner had he hung up, than he was rolling off the couch, lunging towards his trash bin to throw up. 

Throwing up aggravated his stomach pain, so rather than try to get back to the couch, Max opted to curl up on the floor next to the bin. 

Dimly, he recognized that something was probably really wrong, but he had no experience with illness, and no way to know what was normal and what wasn’t.

Other than the fact that he seemed to be sick for the first time in his whole life.

 

Eventually he registered his front door opening, followed by Isobel shouting, “Max! What the hell?”

He opened his eyes to peer up at her blearily. “Hey.”

“Hey? That’s it? What the hell are you doing on the floor? And what is that smell?” She glanced over at his trash bin. “You threw up? What did you do? Did you overexert your powers? Why didn’t you call me?”

“Slow down, Iz. I didn’t even use my powers, I just woke up this morning with a stomach ache, that’s all.”

“A stomach ache? We don’t get sick…”

Max started to stretch out his legs, but it hurt too much so he pulled them back towards his stomach. “I beg to differ. This is me. Sick.”

Isobel got out her phone and called someone.

“Who are you calling?”

“Shh.” She laid one hand on his shoulder, but turned away as if to give herself a bit of privacy.

“He does seem sick, which is worrisome because we don’t get sick. Oh, Max mentioned that? Well did he mention that he’s laying on the floor of his living room with a trash bin of vomit within arm’s reach?”

She paused, listening to the other person speak. 

“I figured you would. Bring a thermometer with you, will you? We’ve never had any use for them, but he feels a little warm to me.”

Max frowned as Isobel ended the call and then turned back to him, carding a hand through his hair while his eyes drifted closed again.

“How’d you even know to come over here?” he mumbled.

“Liz called. Thankfully, she had the sense not to believe you when you told her you were fine.”

Suddenly his sister stood up and started rifling through his desk drawers until she found what she was looking for. She came back over to him, uncapping a bottle of nail polish remover.

“Already tried that, Iz.”

She helped him hold his head up with one hand, the bottle held to his lips with the other. “Yeah, well, try it again. For me.”

He took a couple sips, then closed his mouth and relaxed back onto the floor. “Ugh. It’s not working.”

She ignored him, tugging on one of his arms. “How about we get you onto the couch, huh? You’ll be more comfortable.”

“I don’t want to move, Iz. Just let me-” he broke off, feeling the bile rise in his throat. He lurched halfway up, reaching for the trash bin as he emptied his stomach again.

After his stomach finally stopped spasming, he became aware of Isobel’s hand rubbing circles on his back. 

“Max…”

Before she could say whatever it was, his front door opened again.

“Wow, you look like shit. So it’s true. One of us is finally sick.”

“Get over here, Michael. Help me get him onto the couch.”

By the time Max was curled up on the couch, he was panting around the pain of what really felt like a knife in his gut. 

Belatedly, he realized that he must’ve said at least part of that out loud, because suddenly they were trying to roll him onto his back, demanding to see his stomach.

“Did you get hurt at work? Damn it, Max, will you work with us here?”

He batted their hands away, now on his back with his knees up. “Stop, stop. I’m not hurt.”

Michael snorted. “Right, it’s just a knife. Let us see then, stupid.”

He finally relented, and Michael pulled his shirt up so he and Isobel could run their hands down his chest. 

“You guys… come on.”

“Shut up. Where does it hurt?”

He kinda wanted to point out that he couldn’t shut up, AND tell them where it hurt, but he figured that’d only piss them off, and it seemed like they were upset enough already.

“It started here,” he moved his hand to hover over his belly button, “but now it’s more here,” he let his hand drift to his lower right side.

He flinched hard, when one of their hands drifted close to the area and shoved his shirt back down. “It’s fine, I’m fine. Just leave it.”

There was a knock at the door.

“You invite the whole town here, Iz?”

Michael got up to open the door, and then suddenly Liz was hovering nearby, a worried look on her face.

“I brought a thermometer…” she hesitated. Probably, Max realized, because the last time Liz had come over to examine him, Isobel hadn’t been too pleased with her. 

Despite the fact that it’d been a while, and her and Isobel were on much better terms now that there were no more secrets, it seemed like she still wasn’t sure how welcome she’d be when it came to science.

Max just watched as Isobel moved aside and gestured for Liz to take his temperature. It was one of the ear ones. He closed his eyes as Liz laid a hand across his forehead and she inserted the tip of the thermometer into his ear.

“He does feel warm,” she said. Then, “100 degrees. It’s a fever, but it’s low grade.”

He sighed, opening his eyes when he felt her hand withdraw from his head. 

“Max… you said you had a stomach ache? Where does it hurt?”

“Lower right side,” Isobel answered. “He flinches if we come anywhere near it.”

“Guys,” Max spoke to the room at large, feeling like this thing was starting to spiral way out of control. “It’s probably just something I ate.”

It seemed like Liz was ignoring him now, focusing on a conversation she was having with Isobel and Michael. 

“When did it start, do you know?”

“This morning, he said. And it was closer to his belly button at first, but it seems to be getting worse.”

“And he’s been hurling,” Michael added, pointing helpfully to the trash bin.

“Guys!” Max shouted, then groaned, resting a palm on his lower right side. Raising his voice hurt too.

Liz sat on the coffee table, and leaned over to rest a hand on his head again.

“Sorry, Max, I didn’t mean to exclude you, but I think this might be serious. I think we need to call for help.”

Behind Liz’s shoulder, Isobel scoffed. “From who, an alien doctor? Is there a hotline or something?”

Max looked at Liz, afraid of what she might be thinking, but it was Michael who said it. 

“Not an alien doctor, but a doctor who already knows our secret, right Liz? Your buddy Kyle.”

“No.” There was no way Kyle was coming to his home. Especially not now, when he couldn’t even stand up straight. Liz might trust him, but Max didn’t, and probably never would.

Liz only looked at him, eyes filling with tears. “Max, please, I think you might have appendicitis. You need help.”

“Not from him.”

“Max…”

“Appendicitis is fatal, right? In humans.” Isobel wanted to know.

“If left untreated, yes.”

Max started to protest, but was interrupted by Liz.

“Look, my sister had appendicitis so I recognize the symptoms, but it could be something else. I don’t know, I’m not a doctor. And even if we brought Kyle over, he could only guess because we don’t know exactly how your biology differs from ours. But, I can tell you that he’s absolutely the best person to figure this out. And Max, he’d never do anything to harm you. Not on purpose, I swear.”

Max closed his eyes again, breath ragged. Every fiber of his being resisted the idea of letting Kyle come into his home and examine him. Still, he could feel his resolve crumbling the way it always did around Liz.

Surprisingly, Michael spoke before he could.

“Do it. Call him. If he’d wanted to out us, he would’ve done it a long time ago.”

He opened his eyes to see that Liz was still looking at him, waiting for his permission.

“Fine,” he whispered.


	2. Chapter 2

“Okay, deep breath. Good.”

Kyle took the stethoscope out of his ears and patted Michael on the shoulder. “Thanks for that.”

“So am I,” Michael brought his fingers up to make quotes in the air, “‘normal’, Doc?”

“Your temperature, heart rate, and blood pressure are all within range of what is normal for humans, yeah.”

It was something Max wouldn’t have even thought of, but the first thing Kyle had asked to do was examine one of his siblings. He’d explained that he needed to know what was baseline for them before he could examine Max.

The fact that Michael had volunteered told Max how worried his brother was, and how seriously he was taking this. Which made it a little harder for him to be as stubbornly uncooperative as he wanted to be.

“It also appears that your internal organs, or at least the heart, lungs, digestive tract - those all seem to be where I’d expect to find them, so that’s really good news.”

Michael pulled his shirt back on. “Awesome. Looks like it’s your turn, Max.”

Kyle came over the to couch where Max still laid on his back, and sat on the coffee table in front of him. 

“You ready?”

“Let’s just get this over with.”

Max kept his eyes trained on the ceiling while Kyle took his pulse and blood pressure and listened to his heart and lungs.

“Max, I’m gonna need to push on your abdomen in a couple places, okay? I need to know exactly where it hurts.”

Max waited, and then glanced over to see Kyle staring at him, apparently waiting for consent.

He sighed. “Yeah, fine.”

Kyle’s gloved hands started at his belly button, which didn’t hurt much anymore, and then went to his left side, which wasn’t bad, but when he got to the lower right side, his gentle push felt like a hot poker, and Max flinched away, clamping his mouth shut to keep from screaming.

“Okay, okay, that’s it. All done.”

It took Max a minute to realize that Kyle was trying to… comfort him?

“I’m fine,” he ground out, reaching up to swipe at a couple tears that had escaped.

“Well, based on the symptoms you described when I got here, and my own examination, I’d say this is definitely appendicitis - or at least I would if you were human. It sure feels like your organs match ours… but I have no way to be completely sure without imaging, and we don’t have that here, so…”

Isobel broke in. “So what’s next? Can you fix him?”

“Ideally? I’d recommend heading down to the hospital, getting some imaging done, and then if everything checks out, having that appendix removed.”

“And if it doesn’t check out? If my appendix isn’t where it’s supposed to be? Or if something else comes up in the scan? What then?”

“Not to mention drawing blood,” Michael chimed in. “Ours is different enough that people would notice.”

Isobel shook her head. “We can’t risk the hospital. Too many ways that could go bad.” She pinned Kyle with a look. “Unless you think you could somehow treat him there without involving anyone else or any of their computers.”

They all knew the answer to that: if Max went to the hospital for surgery, Kyle would have to put him into the system. His blood would be taken, they’d take scans of him… it’d be impossible to contain.

“Kyle, is there anything you can do here? Away from the hospital?” Liz asked.

Kyle ignored them and focused on Max.

“Is there any way you could heal yourself?”

“No. It doesn’t work like that.”

“Could Isobel or Michael…?”

“They can’t heal, so no.”

The room fell quiet.

Max closed his eyes. The way the pain had been getting worse… 

His voice was embarrassingly hoarse when he spoke. “What happens, exactly, if I don’t get treatment?”

“If it really is your appendix… it’ll rupture. Probably within a day or two. It’ll hurt a lot worse than it does now. After that… the infection will spread and you’ll get very sick. The bacteria will make it into your bloodstream, and you’ll end up with sepsis, which will lead to organ failure. At least, that’s what would happen to a human. Your blood’s a little different, so I can’t be sure if it’d have the same immune response to the bacteria. I think it’s fairly likely, given how similar your anatomy seems to be, but there’s no way for me to be certain.”

Isobel covered her mouth and turned away, while Michael put his head in his hands.

“Great, so you’re saying our brother has a few days of extreme pain, suffering, and then death to look forward to.” Michael’s voice broke. “Thanks for stopping by, Doc.”

“Kyle, please,” Liz whispered. “There’s got to be something.”

Kyle stood up. “Can you guys give us the room for a minute? I’d like to talk to Max alone if I could.”

Max nodded when Michael and Isobel turned to look at him, and they took Liz by the arm and went outside.

Kyle started pacing the room. Despite asking for privacy, he didn’t immediately start talking, so Max figured he’d have his say first.

“Just… be good to her, okay?” The room started to swim and he blinked to bring things back into focus. “And keep her away from here. She doesn’t need to see what’s going to happen.”

Kyle stopped and glared at him. “God, you’re such an idiot, you know that? She loves you. She’s always loved you. Even in freakin’ high school - she was only with me because I’m safe and familiar- you’re the one who-”

Max scoffed. “Yeah, right. You don’t have to say that just because I’m dying.”

“You’re not dying, damn it! Not if I can help it.”

“But you said-”

“Just shut up for a second!” Kyle sat down in front of him again.

“If I tried to take out your appendix here, without a proper medical team, without a good surgical environment, without knowing exactly how your body would react to the anesthesia, without even being sure that your damn appendix works the same as ours…”

“I might die just in the attempt.”

“Yes. A million things could go wrong. Things I might not be able to fix.”

Max chuckled, then groaned at the pain. “If you’re trying to make me feel better, you’re failing spectacularly.”

“I’m being honest, because if I do this I need to know that you completely understood the risks before you agreed.”

“You’d actually try it? Are you nuts? How would you even get the stuff you need from the hospital?”

“That’s for me to worry about. And yes, I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I’m willing to try this if you’re game.”


	3. Chapter 3

One of the best things about being a trusted surgeon in a small-town hospital was how easy it was to grab things without arousing suspicion.

Still, there were some things he’d need that he couldn’t get at the hospital.

As soon as he stepped out onto Max’s porch, Liz, Isobel, and Michael were standing up, wanting to know what was going on.

Had he figured something out?

Was there a way to help Max?

Was the dumbass going to try to convince them to let him die?

That last one had been Michael, of course.

He held up his hands, trying to quiet them down. “I’m going to try, but I’ll need some help.”

He paused in thought. First things first; they’d need someplace to do this. 

“Do any of you have a long narrow table, preferably made of something that can be disinfected, and big enough for Max to lay down on?”

“Max has a work table in the garage. He’d probably fit on it.” Michael said, all business.

“Would it fit in his kitchen?”

Isobel spoke up. “Wait, you want to cut open my brother in a freakin’ _kitchen_?”

Kyle ticked off his fingers. “Tile floors are easiest to clean and disinfect, there’s running water, and there’s good light. So yeah, I want to use the kitchen.”

“I think it’ll fit,” Michael said, laying a hand on Isobel’s shoulder.

“Okay, here’s what I need: get everything off Max’s counters and clean every single surface in the kitchen with a mixture of bleach and water. Disinfect that table and bring it into the center of the kitchen, then wipe everything down again. I’ll be back in a while to start setting up.”

He looked at each of them in turn. “Generally, doctors and nurses don’t work on family if they can help it because it’s a scary thing - even for professionals. So I want each of you to think long and hard about this. I don’t want you around during the surgery if you’re not absolutely sure you can keep it together. Got it?”

There were solemn nods and determined faces all around, so Kyle left, praying that he wasn’t making a huge mistake.

 

The first thing he noticed when he got back was that they’d been moving the cars around. Before he could do much more than wonder why, Michael came out to meet him, directing him to park in the garage next to Michael’s truck.

“Your car being outside his house would be suspicious,” Michael explained, shutting the garage door. 

“Expecting company?”

“No, but better safe than sorry, right?”

Inside, it looked like they’d done a good job in the kitchen. The table was a little lower than he was used to, but at least it was narrow.

In the living room, Max was curled up on the couch, eyes closed. He turned to Liz who was sitting nearby.

“He asleep?” he whispered.

Max grumbled. “Can’t. Resting my eyes.”

“Have any of you ever tried pain relievers? Do you know how they affect you?”

Isobel answered, coming out of one of the back rooms. “They don’t affect us at all. Acetone is the only thing that works for us.”

“Damn.” So much for trying to give Max some relief now. 

Before they got to the business of getting Max onto the table, Kyle checked one more time. 

“You sure about this? It’s not too late to back out.”

Max’s “yes” wasn’t terribly enthusiastic, but he figured with the level of pain he had to be in, it was as good as he was going to get. 

Once they got Max into the kitchen and onto the table, Kyle had the girls wait in another room while he and Michael took care of Max’s clothes.

“Ow ow ow why… why… do I have to be completely… naked?” Max panted, doing his best to cooperate despite his words.

Kyle paused. He would’ve waited until Max was completely under to do all this if it hadn’t been for the fact that two of his assistants in this surgery were going to be Max’s sister and his love interest. 

“Your clothes aren’t sterile, Max. And I’ll need free access to your chest and arms for monitoring and anesthesia. If anything were to go wrong, it’s possible I’d need access to the vein in your leg to push meds. We’re going to cover as much of you as we can with sterile sheets so you don’t get too cold. Just… try to trust me, okay? I’m only doing what’s completely necessary.”

Michael leaned forward, “Don’t worry, Max. We won’t let Liz see your dick until you’re awake again and able to appreciate all the unimpressed faces she makes.”

Kyle watched Max roll his eyes, despite the pain he was in. Michael seemed to be really good at getting Max to relax even as he teased him.

They covered Max from the waist down, then Kyle called the girls back in and started assigning everyone jobs before they all scrubbed in and put their masks on.

Since she had the most experience with medical equipment, Kyle was going to have Liz monitoring Max’s vitals and making sure he stayed asleep throughout. He’d be using Isobel and Michael as extra sets of hands because they’d both insisted they could stomach it, and they wanted to know everything he was doing anyway. 

None of them had ever been under anesthesia, so Kyle decided he’d start with a minimal amount and build it up until it had the desired effect. 

“All right, Max. Time to count backwards from 100 for me.”

“Is it gonna… take that long?” Max’s eyes were glued to Liz’s face, even though he was clearly addressing Kyle.

“We’ll see.”

Max began slowly counting down from 100, still looking at Liz as if he were trying to memorize her face.

“99…98…97…” 

His eyes were closed, so Kyle leaned in. “Max? What’s after 97?”

No response.

“Okay, his reaction to anesthesia is normal so far. Liz, keep him at .5L oxygen for now, but watch his levels.”

“Got it.”

“Isobel, grab one of the sterile sheets over there and lay it over his chest.”

He’d explained to them earlier that the extra sheets would help Max stay warm, and wouldn’t interfere with the electrodes they were using to monitor him.

What _would_ interfere, however, was him waking up scared and using his powers to short out the lights. He’d come prepared with battery-powered lights just in case, but he really hoped it wouldn’t be a problem.

He turned to Isobel and Michael. “Here we go.”

The procedure itself turned out to be not nearly the nightmare Kyle feared it’d be, especially considering all the unknowns he was working with, and the fact that he wasn’t in a hospital with trained staff. 

Michael and Isobel weren’t even bad assistants, as long as he remembered that he couldn’t use too much medical shorthand. What they lacked in medical knowledge, they made up for in grim-faced determination. 

Once he started closing the incision, he addressed them both.

“I think we’re good here. Why don’t you two go relax on the couch for a little while?”

He got a blank stare from Isobel, and an immediate protest from Michael.

“Why the hell would we do that? Why can’t we be in here?”

Kyle sighed, continuing his precise stitching. “Because you’ve both been standing a while, and in about half an hour I’m gonna need help moving him someplace more comfortable. I’m not gonna be able to do it by myself, and you two are exhausted.”

That seemed to bring them up short. Then, he wasn’t surprised that they were a little touchy - they’d just spent the last half hour or so helping hold their brother’s skin open while they watched someone cut an organ out of him. Liz had told him once that it was something they’d all feared growing up. 

So basically he’d just helped one of their biggest nightmares come to life in front of their faces. And not only had they withstood it, but they’d done absolutely everything he’d asked.

“Look, you guys did great. Max is fine. Liz is gonna keep monitoring him in here for a little while, and then we’ll get him into a bed and you guys can sit with him the rest of the night. But it’s late, you’re exhausted, and I’m gonna need you again in just a little while. Please just go sit down, okay?”

Michael huffed, but left without further protest. Isobel followed.

Though Kyle noticed that they went to the couch that was closest to the kitchen entrance. If they leaned back, they could probably still see their brother on the table.

He tied off the last stitch and then grabbed a bandage.

“You did good, too.”

Liz nodded, not taking her eyes off Max’s face. “How long before he wakes up?”

Kyle secured the bandage and then shrugged before rolling his shoulders. “An hour, maybe? So far everything’s been pretty textbook.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please pardon the medical inaccuracies. I've had to hand wave some of the stuff - because fiction.


	4. Chapter 4

There was talking nearby… it sounded like Isobel, so he assumed Michael was around somewhere. But his eyelids were so heavy, and he couldn’t quite make out the words, so he drifted.

“…said it’d be an hour, but it’s been _three_ and he’s not awake, so why don’t you tell us what’s going on?”

That was Isobel talking again… someone answered her, but he couldn’t make it out.

Then, “What _do_ you know, exactly? Because I think we’re all getting real tired of hearing about what you don’t know.”

That was Michael… it wasn’t like them to argue like that… Michael was usually pretty protective of Isobel. He tried to imagine what could’ve upset them but then his mind drifted again and everything just faded away.

“Max. Max, wake up, man.”

Someone was patting his cheek… that was weird. Then he felt a grinding pain in his chest… he tried to lift a hand to knock whatever was hurting him away, but his hand weighed a ton.

He groaned, frowning. Then the pain stopped, so he relaxed again.

“Hey, hey, come on… open your eyes, Max.”

He tried, but his eyelids were heavy and he was tired. 

Eventually, Isobel was there… but he didn’t hear her voice, he _felt_ it. 

_Max… Max, please._

She was scared. She needed help… 

_Isobel?_

“Is’bel,” he slurred, heart pounding. He finally managed to pry his eyes open because something was wrong… Isobel was in trouble.

Only the face hovering over him was Kyle’s… 

“What… where… where’s she? Where’s Is-”

Kyle suddenly leaned back and Isobel appeared.

“I’m right here, I’m fine.”

Max closed his eyes just for a second, catching his breath. “But…”

“No, no. Eyes open, Max.”

It was Kyle again, squeezing his upper arm. 

“M’tired,” he complained, opening his eyes to glare at him. Because what was Kyle’s problem, anyway? 

“Yeah, I know you’re tired, but I need you to stay awake for just a little bit so I can check on you.”

“Why?” Max couldn’t remember ever feeling this tired and… fuzzy… in his life. 

“Because you overslept, Max! You weren’t supposed to sleep all damn night!”

Max looked around blearily for the source of the voice. “Michael?”

Then Michael’s face was next to Kyle’s in the dim room. “Right here. We’ve all been here sitting around waiting for you to wake up.”

_All?_ Max wondered who _all_ was included and why they were in his bedroom in the middle of the night.

“Is he supposed to be this confused? He looks like he has no damn clue what any of us are doing here.”

Kyle answered, looking at Max instead of Michael. “Max, you’re fine. You had surgery, remember? That pesky appendix of yours?”

That’s right… he’d been in pain and it’d gotten worse and… he’d agreed to let Kyle try to help him.

He moved his hand towards where the pain had been. “Did it work?”

Liz grabbed his hand before he could get it to the right spot and held it. “It worked. You’re okay.”

“Liz…”

“Oh great, now he’s going to be staring into her eyes for the next forever instead of paying attention,” Michael complained.

“Well at least he’s awake,” Isobel answered.

“Max, I’m gonna take your blood pressure and listen to your chest for a minute, okay?”

Max was dimly aware that Kyle was talking to him, but he couldn’t be bothered to decipher it. Liz was sitting on his bed, holding his hand. 

He felt something cold on his chest… Kyle was doing something… but his attention was taken up by the look on Liz’s face. 

She was… beautiful. Even in the dim light. The way the moonlight caressed one side of her face gave her a luminous glow. Max couldn't stop looking at her. She reached down with the hand that wasn’t holding his, and gently brushed his hair back.

“You can sleep now, Max.”

So he did.

 

The next time he woke, the room was light. Looking around, he was momentarily confused to see his siblings asleep in his room, each on one of his over-stuffed chairs, and Liz… Liz was next to him on the bed, above the blankets, holding one his hands in hers while she slept.

But now that the cobwebs were starting to clear, he remembered that they were all over at his house because he’d agreed to let Kyle try to take his appendix out. He wanted to reach down and feel for a bandage, but Liz held his right hand trapped in hers - probably, he thought, just for that reason.

Judging by the way everyone was fast asleep, though, it must’ve been a success.

Though now that his attention had been drawn to his lower right side, he’d begun to notice a throbbing pain there. Maybe something was still wrong. Maybe Kyle hadn’t been able to help him after all. 

The last thing he’d wanted was a bedside vigil while the people he cared about most had to watch him suffer. In fact, he’d told Kyle he didn’t want that.

“Whoa, hey, calm down,” Michael whispered, coming to a crouch next to his beside.

Max hadn’t even noticed that he’d been getting worked up until Michael pointed it out.

“What…” he swallowed, mouth dry. “What happened?”

Michael kept his voice pitched low. “With the surgery? It was a success, you’re fine. Hold on, let me get Kyle real quick. He crashed out on the couch, but he wanted to know once you were awake.”

Michael padded out of the room, returning a minute later with Kyle in tow. 

Now Kyle crouched next to the bed. “Feeling a little more alert now?”

“Yeah… wait, was I not before?”

“You were a little slow recovering from the sedation, but it’s fine. Everything went well; your appendix was right where I expected, and it was definitely inflamed, so we got it out. I’m not expecting any complications, but you’re gonna need to take it real easy for a few days. And you’ll need to take the antibiotics I brought - I’ll give you one now just so we can be sure you don’t have a weird reaction to them. And since pain meds don’t work on you…”

Michael held up a bottle of nail polish remover. “I gotcha covered.”

“I assume you’re starting to feel it now.”

“Yeah…” Max swallowed. “For a second I thought maybe it hadn’t worked.”

“No, your appendix is gone, that’s just the surgery you’re feeling. Michael’s gonna help you take a few sips of the acetone, and then he and I are gonna help you up and get you moving a bit.”

Max was a little surprised that even as they helped him sit up and then stand, Liz didn’t stir at all, and Isobel hadn’t woken up either.

His surprise must’ve shown on his face because as they shuffled down the hallway Kyle said, “The girls will be out for a while. They only got to sleep about an hour ago.”

“Yeah,” Michael added, “I think Liz was up most of the night trying to interpret the crazy poetic things you were mumbling about her face and the moonlight while you were out of it.”

“Oh god,” Max muttered. This was not a conversation he wanted to be having in front of Kyle. Or with Michael even, actually. He could only hope it wasn’t as bad as his brother was making it sound.

They brought him to a stop in front of the bathroom. 

Which actually, now that Max thought about it, he really _did_ need to empty his bladder.

“I’ll let Michael take it from here. Feel free to drink more acetone if you need to - I’m not sure what the limit on that is for you guys, but as far as the appendectomy goes, you don’t have any dietary restrictions.”

“Thanks,” Max said to Kyle.

Kyle nodded, then headed towards the living room.

He turned to Michael. “I think I can use the bathroom alone.”

“Nope! Kyle doesn’t want you trying to walk on your own just yet. You could get dizzy, slip, fall, bust your stitches. Not happening. Besides, who do you think helped change you into those sweat pants? I’m a practically a professional caregiver now.”

Of course his “practically professional caregiver” spent the entire time in the bathroom making dick jokes and teasing him about pretty much everything.

Which, oddly, actually made Max feel a lot better. When Michael stopped giving him a hard time - that was when he knew it was time to worry.

They were just getting back to the bedroom when Kyle came rushing back.

“Someone’s coming down the road. It’s a police car.”

Max looked at Michael. “Damn it. It’s gotta be Cam.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NOTE: One of the things sometimes done to try to bring someone around is to rub a knuckle on their breastbone to cause discomfort. That’s what Kyle was doing to Max when he felt pain in his chest.


	5. Chapter 5

Michael helped ease Max back onto the bed, propping a couple pillows behind him so he could sit up.

“Here.” He set the bottle of nail polish remover in his hands. “Small sips until you’re sure you’re not gonna hurl.”

Max watched, bewildered, as Kyle went over to the other side of the bed to wake Liz.

“Liz, someone’s coming down the road. Max thinks it’s probably Cam.”

She scrunched up her nose and rolled over onto her stomach, groaning into the blankets. 

Then she turned her head to look at Max. “You’re awake. How’re you feeling?”

“Uh… better.” He hesitated, wondering what in the world they had planned. Were they all just going to hide back in his bedroom together until Cam went away? 

Suddenly Liz crawled off the bed and stood up. Her hair was adorably mussed from sleeping, but she grabbed some kind of tie that had been around her wrist and pulled her hair up into a bun on top of her head.

Isobel had woken up at some point and was digging through his closet. 

“Here,” she called before Liz could leave the room, “use this.”

Liz caught whatever it was in midair with a “yep”, and then left the room, closing the door behind her.

“What just happened?” he asked the room in general.

“Shh,” Isobel said, ear to the door. “We’ll explain after.”

Liz came back a few minutes later, wearing the robe Isobel had given him for Christmas over the shirt and shorts she’d been sleeping in. 

Max’s mouth fell open. It didn’t just look like Liz had slept here… it looked like she’d been living here. She looked… comfortable.

“Thanks,” she said, shaking the robe off and tossing it back to Isobel. “I don’t think Cam will be back anytime soon.”

“Glad it was helpful. God knows this guy,” Isobel pointed a thumb in his direction, “never wears it.”

Kyle seemed to take pity on his obviously muddled state. “Liz’s car is the only one outside the garage right now. We figured her being here would be the easiest to explain.”

“Well it could’ve been me too, but if I opened the door and said I was nursing you back to health from the stomach flu, Cam would be more likely to want to come in and make sure you were still alive,” Michael explained.

“And if it’d been Isobel, she might’ve wanted to come in and chat for a while or something. Liz, looking all cozy and domestic in Max’s house, though? We figured she wouldn’t stick around for that.”

Max had to take a minute just to breathe while it hit him how much thought… how much planning they must’ve been doing while he was out. All to protect him. 

“Thank you. All of you. Really, it’s…” he trailed off, not even sure how to express what he was feeling.

Michael stood up. “All right, all right. Think you can manage a sandwich before you go back to sleep?”

“Sure,” he answered, watching Michael head out the door towards the kitchen.

He looked over at Kyle, who’d taken a seat in the chair Michael had been sleeping in earlier.

“Why am I still so tired if I slept so long?”

“Well first of all, sedation isn’t really sleep, so you haven’t actually gotten as much sleep as you think. And second, any surgery involves some degree of blood loss, and that’ll make you pretty tired for the next few days.”

“So how long until I’m back to normal?”

“You’ll need to stay mostly off your feet and just rest a few days, but after that you could go back to maybe half a day at a desk. I definitely wouldn’t want you out on patrol… but since we can’t exactly tell the sheriff that you had surgery, it’ll be better if you can just take a couple weeks off. A bad stomach flu should do it, I think.”

“She thought it was a stomach bug when she sent me home.”

“Perfect. So give her a call later today and tell her you’ve got the stomach flu. I can print you off a note that should buy you enough time to recover at home. And I’ll send you a link to the symptoms and how long they last so you can use that as a guide to how you’re feeling if she asks.”

Michael came back with the sandwich, but he only managed to eat half before his eyes were getting too heavy. Liz had long since passed out again on the bed, and Isobel gone out to take one of the couches. 

“Max, I’m gonna head back to my place and get some rest. Have somebody call me if your pain gets bad, or if you develop a fever or anything. Otherwise, I’ll check in later.”

Max nodded, not even sure what to say. Finally, he settled on “Thanks, Kyle.”

He still wasn’t entirely sure he could bring himself to think of Kyle as a friend… at least not yet… but maybe he could think of him as an ally. He’d certainly earned it.


End file.
